Cousin Fun

The kid's cousins came to spend a day at Wild Water West with us. It is something they try to do every summer and everyone looks forward to it.

These two look like trouble don't they? The big girls call them the blonde twins. You will often find them hugging, giggling, telling secrets or just plain lovin' life!

The big girls thought they were pretty big this year. Alexa is now tall enough to go down the big slides by herself and do all the other things with out a parent so they had fun being able to do some big kid stuff this year.

This crooked smile is Mya's 2 year old look. All of her 2 years pictures had her crooked smile on it! She was loving the big freezer pop!

The big girls chose some icee's for their treat!

Shane decided a big cookie was his treat of the day!

It was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun in the water together!

I love it when Shane wears his goggles on the kiddy slides! It never fails he always finds a way to make me smile!

There was fun on the lazy river, on the slides, in the wave pool, on the turtle and ...

under the umbrellas.

Here are those blonde twins again telling their little secrets!

Another great day of summer!

Shane's 5th Birthday

We were at the Lake on Shane's big day! The morning started like most birthday morning at our house with Shane heading out the door for breakfast with daddy! To say he was excited was an understatement!

Shane had a great day swimming in the lake, swinging on the swing set, digging in the sand, chilling in the hot tub and taking care of his little birds. The kids found these little birds and Shane informed everyone that it was his birthday and he was the daddy! My favorite part of the afternoon was when he jumped in the hammock with me and took a little snooze. My birthday boy still loves to cuddle with his mom!

Shane got a slip n slide from his cousins that he was super excited about!

And then it was time for some singing, making a wish and eating some cake.

As we were eating cake a huge storm began to blow in. The kids were a little nervous and dark clouds filled the sky and the storm began to blow across the lake. Then things got crazy! The sirens went off which happen to be right by our cabin. Needless to say we had 5 out of the 6 kids crying or screaming for that matter. Later we found out it went off as a flood warning rather than a tornado. It took a bit for the kids to shake the nerves and for everyone to calm down before bed. The girls kept saying to Shane, "This was not a good birthday was it?" Oh the memories on Shane's 5th birthday!

Happy Birthday Shane

Shane

I can't believe that you are 5 today. I seems like just yesterday that I was holding this tiny little boy with tons of hair and wondering how you would change our life. Boy have you ever changed our life. You have added so much joy and laughter to our family. You are a gift from God my sweet boy. There are so many things that I love about you and today on your birthday I want to write about a few!

I love your big brown eyes, that smile and the dimple that goes with it.

I love how excited you are about being a big brother. I love listening to you pray at night for him you say "and God be with my baby brother where ever he is in China!"

Shane it was so fun to see you dive right into preschool this year. You were a little sponge as you took everything in. It was fun to see you grow and blossom this year.

Shane I loved my time alone with you this year. When the girls were at school we enjoyed doing so many different things. We played games, made cookies, read books, cuddled, played legos, went to Barnes and Noble ..... I loved looking into your little eyes and having sweet conversations between a mommy and her little boy.

Shane you love playing Lego's and trains. It is fun to see your imagination run wild!

You are all boy and have a zeal for life. You rarely sit still. If only I could bottle up your energy. Your love for life and others pours out of you.

You make guns and swords out of sticks because that's what little boys do!

You play hard and get dirty!

You love motorized vehicles and have a need for speed!

You love spending time with your daddy! You think it is so much fun that there are things like golf that only the boys get to do together. You grin from ear to ear when it is your time for date night with daddy!

Your sisters love you to pieces. Alexa is your nurturer. You go to her when you are tired, sad or just want a hug! Emma is your playmate. You guys wrestle around, play house, play Lego's or what ever else you dream up. I often hear giggles from the two of you and every once in a while a little disagreement.

I love seeing the fun and laughter that you can have together. I pray that your relationships continue to grow and deepen in the years to come!

You are a determined little man!

But most of all you love life with every ounce of you and you live it to it's fullest!

Shane I feel so blessed to be your mommy!

Happy 5th Birthday!

I love you!

Mom

Alexa's Sweet Shoppe

Alexa decided she wanted to have her 3 best friends over from school for her birthday and she wanted to have a Sweet Shoppe. So we started planning. She had so much fun being part of it and picking stuff out. It was especially fun to pick out the candy.

It was such a fun party to put together. We actually did it rather quickly with a stop at the Dollar Store, Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Wal-Mart.

Alexa had fun picking out the candy and putting the Sweet Shoppe together.

It was a beautiful summer evening so we set a table up outside. Alexa loved it when we covered the chairs for Emma's Fancy Nancy party and asked if she could have her chairs covered too! We made tissue paper pom poms to decorate the table and lollipop name place cards. We made little sandwiches and wrapped them in a little piece of scrapbook paper to make them look cute. We cut watermelon in to circles and put sticks in them to make them lollipop watermelon sticks. We also had some chips, veggies and pink lemonade!

What a sweet group of girls!

I love how these pictures turned out with Alexa and her friends.

The girls threw on some paint shirts and painted some water bottles we found at the Dollar Store with paint pens. They are a very artsy bunch so if was fun to see them at work!

Then we came in for a picture by the cupcakes!

We sang "Happy Birthday" and Alexa made a wish!

The girls ate their cupcakes.

It was time for the Sweet Shoppe to open. The girls were so cute as they filled their buckets with candy. They kept saying this is the best sweet Shoppe ever especially because it doesn't cost anything.

Alexa also sent them home with a toothbrush so they can brush away all those sweets!

It really was a picture perfect night! Look at that sky!

Alexa had fun opening gifts.

We then walked to the park for a little while that is a block from our house. The girls were so cute as they walked hand in hand. Her friends are so sweet and always include Emma too! What a great group of girls!

We finished the evening with a few games. The girls played "Hot Candy" which is like Hot Potato. We wrapped a ball in fabric and tied it on each end to make it look like a piece of candy. We also played "Candy Toss." The girls had to toss the piece of Candy into the pink buckets. And last but not least racing with gummy worms and gumballs on spoons.

A Special Day Shared

The weekend of Father's Day usually ends up to be a little crazy at our house. With our anniversary and Alexa's birthday around that time in June you never know what is going to fall on Father's Day. This year Alexa and Eric shared their special day.

Eric always takes the kids out for breakfast on their birthday. Since it was Sunday Alexa jumped out of bed at 6:30 to head to breakfast before church. She is my sleeper so you know she is excited when she actually jumps out of bed that early! So off they went to the House of Pancakes!

Alexa then requested to have her and Eric make her favorite pasta together. It was a recipe that Eric made up. I felt bad that Eric was cooking dinner on Father's Day but he said he didn't mind. He and Alexa had fun in the kitchen on their special day!

We pulled out the "You Are Special Plate!"

Alexa was so excited about her spinach pasta with chicken and mushrooms!

Then it was time to open a couple gifts!

She was really excited about her headbands. Who knew those little things would bring so much excitement!

Then it was time to celebrate Daddy! The kids had picked out a card that plays music. They couldn't wait for him to open it.

They were really excited about giving dad his fire pit. Alexa had it planned all day that we would give it to dad and then we would make s'mores for her birthday dessert. What a perfect way to end a special day!

So the fire was lit and the roasting began. As the marshmallows were roasting they started turning black. Eric decided to pull out the package of wood I had picked up. Right on the directions it said "Don't cook food over this wood!" Hmmmm no wonder the marshmallows were looking a little toxic.

Plan 2 - Throw the s'mores in the microwave and you still get a ooey, gooey, yummy mess!